CLOSED CURTAIN (2013) dir. Jafar Panahi & Kamboziya Partovi

1/17 & 1/18, Part of The Boston Festival of Films from Iran @MFA

Exhibiting the utmost audacity and artistic determination, CLOSED CURTAIN marks the second film that Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has made since a 20-year ban from filmmaking was imposed upon him in 2010 for “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”. The film tells the story of a screenwriter trapped indoors with his illegal dog (considered unclean under Islamic law) as they hide from the authorities with windows shuttered, in what many view as a reflection of Panahi’s own experience under house arrest and a general expression of the repression felt under the Iranian regime. While both the film’s co-director (Kambuzia Partovi) and main actress (Maryam Moqadam) had their passports revoked to prevent them from promoting it, Panahi managed to appear via Skype at the film’s screening in the Czech Republic, in direct defiance of his own ban from giving interviews.

– Stefan Grabowski